Bar spacer



May 26, 1925. 1,539,378

w. E. WHITE BAR SPACER FifedNov. v, 1925 Patented May 26, 1925.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM E. WHITE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

. BAR SPACER.

Application filed. November 7, 1923.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, IVILLIAM E. WVHrrE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Bar Spacer, of

which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to spacing devices for concrete work and particularly to an extremely simple form adapted for economical machine production.

In accordance with the tendency toward simplification of the requisites in the art, etlorts have been made to reduce the cost of producing the accessories to concrete reinforcements and to that end a construction is here presented which is apparently the ultimate in the development along the lines suggested. The device consists essentially of a single length of wire, looped at relatively close intervals, alternate laterally-extending loops being relatively angularly disposed. The resulting structure, when formed of stiff wire, is stable under all loads and will sustain such loads without deflection either vertically or laterally.

A particular object in the design'has been to provide a construction which might be produced in an automatic wire machine and the complete article is delivered in two operations. The first operation is that of looping the wire and the second that of oppositely rotating alternate loops.

The invention will be more readily understood by reference to the accompanying drawing, wherein,

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a spacer constructed in accordance with my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof, and,

Fig. 3 is an end view.

In manufacturing the article a single length of wire is used and by a suitable automatic machine the wire is bent to provide relatively closely spaced loops. The loops consist of a base portion 10, which may be slightly upwardly curved between its ends and legs 11, which converge upwardly to their junction with straight aligned, intervening or connecting portions 12. The legs converge to a point where they are, in effect, in contact although a slight degree of separation is unimportant.

After the loop are formed. as des r bed Serial N'o. 673,275.

and are in alignment, a second operation serves to angularly dispose alternate loops in such manner that the loops occupy planes which intersect at the center line of the intervening port-ions. configuration of the parts which form the legs, the tendency toward collapsing is offset. The only efl'ect of an excessive vertical load is to tend to bring the upper ends of the legs into abutting engagement.

The effective depth of the spacer is readily controlled by adjusting the machineto form legs of greater length and obviously this result is secured by a change in only one of the elements of the device.

The construction herein described is distinguished from a construction in which alternate U-shaped portions of a continuous wire are laterally deflected to constitute legs in that the leg portions are rebent in the present structure thereby adding materially to the strength thereof and to the ability to resist vertical loads. A vertical load imposed on a structure of this application tends only to bring the abutting ends closer together, whereas a similar load applied to a prior structure such as described would tend to separate and destroy the integrity of the structure. The shaping of the loops is, of course, unimportant and while I have shown the deflected portions as of generally triangular outline, it will be understood that this is wholly a matter of choice so long as the legs are rebent to bring the straight aligned portions substantially into contact.

One of the obvious advantages in the use of a construction such as herein described is that of the easy handling, there being no sharp points or edges projecting and no tangl'ing or interlocking of nested sections. The structure is capable of some modifica tions and I do not wish to be limited except as indicated in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A. spacer consisting of a length of still wire having substantially closed loops there in, said loops being separated by straight 100 aligned intervening portions, said loops being alternately angularly disposed to occupy planes which intersect at the center line of said intervening portions the ends of adjacent intervening portions being in contacting relation, i

Due to the peculiar 2. A bar spacer consisting of a single length of Wire having loops formed therein, the loops being separated by straight aligned intervening portions, said loops being generally of'triangular outline and'coi'nprising a base portion and legs which converge from the base toward their junction with the aligned connecting portions, alternate loops tions the ends of adjacent intervening portions *being in contacting relation.

Signed at Chicago, 111., this 29th day of October, 1923.

WVILLIAM E. lVI-IITE. 

